"Harvard's hot," Paris Hilton declares

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - About 200 Harvard
University students waited more than an hour in bone-chilling
rain on Wednesday for a speaker better known for hard partying
than Ivy League appearances -- socialite Paris Hilton.

The millionaire hotel heiress won the dubious honor of
"woman of the year" from Harvard's satirical Lampoon magazine,
and she accepted the trophy in person with a quick speech.

"Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine standing here
on the steps of the Harvard Lampoon receiving the woman of the
year award," she told the students gathered outside the
castle-like, red-brick building that houses the Lampoon.

"You guys are so hot," she added. "Harvard's hot."

The 26-year-old star of the television reality show "The
Simple Life" kept the crowd waiting for so long that the head
of the student-run magazine had to reassure the students that
the event was not a prank.

"All of you can stab me if she doesn't come," Lampoon
president Chris Schleicher said wryly. "She's really coming."

In many ways, Hilton's hard-charging lifestyle, party-girl
image and tabloid fame are the antithesis of the Harvard
experience. And many past Lampoon honorees boast weightier
resumes -- from former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
to actors Robin Williams, John Wayne and John Cleese.

Hilton is the first recipient of the Lampoon's "woman of
the year" award.
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